“You don’t have to do it all by yourself.”
If you stumbled upon this blog post, then you finally admitted that you need help. In today’s hectic times, collaboration and delegation are instrumental to a business owner’s productivity and success. You don’t want to be bogged down by tedious tasks that eat up your time and headspace when there are more valuable things that you should be focused on—things that will contribute more significantly to your business’s overall growth.
Do you often catch yourself complaining about lacking time to get things done? That means you have too much on your plate. It’s time to outsource these tasks and a virtual assistant or VA is a perfect choice.
A VA will be working remotely using his or her own resources, so you don’t need to provide office space and equipment. There are various kinds of VAs available for hire online, each with a different set of specialized as well as general skills.
Ready to hire your very own sidekick? Allow me to walk you through the step-by-step process of hiring a virtual assistant…
1. Identify tasks and processes that can be done by someone else.
As a business owner or CEO, you want to be able to focus on the things that require executive decision-making. Before hiring a VA, you should identify the tasks and processes that you can safely offload. Consider letting a VA take over simple or menial tasks, such as setting appointments, responding to emails, organizing your schedule, etc. This will free up a huge chunk of your time.
2. Set your budget and requirements.
To set a budget, you must first determine the scope of the work that you’ll be offloading to your VA. Keep in mind that if Person A offers their service at $5/hr but takes 8 hours to finish a task and then Person B offers a $15/hr service but delivers it in just 2 hours, then you have to do the math and see which one is more cost-efficient.
Do you need your VA to work within a certain time zone? Since VAs are remote workers, it’s quite common to find someone from a different country than yours. Fortunately, VAs are flexible, and more often than not, they’ll be willing to adjust to your timezone.
3. Look for a VA that fits your needs and budget.
Your sources for a VA will typically come in two forms: hiring through an agency or hiring directly. When you hire through a VA agency, you gain access to the organization’s collective skill sets. Usually, you also get assigned an emergency backup if your primary VA is unavailable. If you hire a VA directly, you’ll get the benefit of dealing with only one person who will be 100% accountable for the work they will do.
4. Bring your VA up to speed on your business needs.
You’ll want to be thorough with your interview, selection, and onboarding processes. This ensures that you and your VA are on the same page. At the end of the day, all VAs will need a bit of training to truly understand your business and how you work.
5. Reach an agreement with your VA.
Be clear with your agreement and make sure to have your documentation and invoice system set up before you start off-loading all the tasks to your new VA. Document your expectations and their deliverables. Document your instructions as well and be very clear about each one of them. Videos are a good way to document and demonstrate tasks.
If your process is refined and easily replicated, then you should have a realistic grasp of the average time it should take for your VA to perform their tasks.
Now, imagine having a reliable go-to person for every need in your business. We can make it happen for you. TopVA is your secret weapon!
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